If you’ve been following AstroBackyard on YouTube, you’ll know that I regularly shoot DSLR astrophotography images under the heavily light polluted skies at home. My night sky is classified as Bortle Class 8 in terms of sky quality, a white zone on the light pollution map. This certainly makes things more difficult in terms of collecting data and image processing, but I welcome the challenge. It’s true, there is no substitute for dark skies. But being able to set up a portable astrophotography kit in the backyard on a weeknight is pretty cool. I don't have to pack up heavy gear i…

This week, I returned to my roots and enjoyed some deep sky astrophotography using a DSLR camera and small telescope. Don't get me wrong, dedicated astronomy cameras and heavy duty mounts are great, but my latest imaging session in the backyard was a breath of fresh air. In this post, I’ll share my early results with a new compact refractor telescope, the William Optics Zenithstar 73 APO. I’ve managed to collect some exposure time on a number of deep sky objects using a crop-sensor (modified) DSLR. My experiences with the Z73 have reminded me how much I enjoy deep sky imaging t…

As the season transitions from summer to fall, the nights have become longer and cooler in the backyard. This is beneficial for deep sky astrophotography for many reasons, with more time to capture exposure time on incredible targets like the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula being one of them. For those that have been following my YouTube Channel, you’ll know that I’ve been testing out a new APO refractor telescope, the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED. I was shocked to see just how many of my subscribers were already using and enjoying this exact telescope for astrophotography. In the following pos…

The Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox is an ingenious device that allows you to streamline your deep sky astrophotography setup. The goal of this little blue box is to replace your current mess of power cables running to various devices on your telescope with a single, lightweight power source. The Pocket Powerbox includes (4) 12V outlets that I use to send power to the various devices riding along with my telescope. This includes everything from my dew heater band to my dedicated astronomy camera. The device came with all of the cables I needed in the box, which was a pleasant surprise.…

The ZWO ASI294 MC Pro is a remarkably capable one-shot-color CMOS camera for deep sky astrophotography. Whether you use it for broadband true-color images on a moonless night or ultra-long-exposure images using your favorite narrowband filter - this camera can produce insanely beautiful images. This is easily one of the best color cameras I have ever used for astrophotography, and my go-to choice for a night of deep sky imaging. Over the past year, I have used this camera extensively through a number of telescopes in the backyard and beyond. Here is a taste of what the ASI294MC Pro…